The prior art includes various projection screens. These include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,558 issued to You, U.S. Pat. No. 6,501,599 issued to Randolph, and PCT Application no. PCT/EP99/05881 (WO 01/13172) in the name of Meersseman.
The device of You is disadvantageous because it is made of metal which causes it to be heavy, rigid, non-compressible and non-compactible. Furthermore, the cost of metal material may make the screen undesirably expensive.
The device of Meersseman is disadvantageous, among other reasons, in that it is curved inwardly (concave) about a vertical axis causing it to have a narrow field of view. This is adequate for an audience positioned directly in front of the screen (for example, a narrow/small classroom), but not for a trade show or like environment where it is desired to provide clearly visible images (to attract customers) in a much wider field-of-view. Furthermore, the screen is flat in the vertical dimension, thereby not focusing (directing) the projected image at the eyes of a viewer. This is problematic in a trade show or like environment where many visual cues or lighting arrangements are presented which detract from the visibility of the projected image. In addition, the device of Meersseman has a rather complicated assembly structure requiring a large number of fairly complex, specially made mounting brackets and frame members.
The device of Randolph is heavy, rigid, complex and non-compactible.